Best Actress winner Meryl Streep was in another tight race, the outcome of which no one could predict until the envelope was opened by Colin Firth, last year’s Best Actor winner.

It was her third Oscar win in a record 17 attempts, and her first in nearly 30 years, honouring her portrayal of former British Prime Minster Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady. Streep’s win came at the expense of Viola Davis from The Help, her closest rival.

“Oh, come on! All right! Thank you so much!” Streep said, seemingly out of breath and in shock as she took the stage.

“When they called my name I had this feeling I could hear half of America going, “Oh, no, why her again? But . . . whatever!”

She predicted she would never again win an Oscar.

But not all of the night’s records and oddities were set by The Artist, which didn’t really pick up steam until near the end of the show.

It was an especially sweet evening for Christopher Plummer, 82, and his home and native land Canada, when he finally entered Oscar’s winner’s circle.

He won Best Supporting Actor for Beginners, in which he plays a late-blooming gay man. In so doing, the Toronto-born actor became the oldest winning actor in Oscar history, toppling George Burns’ victory at age 80 in 1976.

Plummer received a standing ovation, as he happily accepted his first Oscar in his decades-long career.

“You’re only two years older than me, darling! Where have you been all my life!” he said, as he regarded his golden bounty.

“I have a confession to make,” he added.

“When I first emerged from my mother’s womb, I was already rehearsing my Academy thank-you speech. But that was so long ago — mercifully for you I have forgotten it!”

Speaking with the precise diction honed by his years on the Shakespearean stage, Plummer thanked many people, but one person most of all: “My long-suffering wife, Elaine, who deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for coming to my rescue every day of my life.”

Octavia Spencer won Best Supporting Actress for The Help, a rare win for an African-American at the Oscars. She also received a standing ovation from the audience.

She burst into tears as she accepted her award, saying she was “freaking out” over the honour, although she had been the favourite to win.

Spencer also managed a big smile and won equally large laughs as she clutched her golden prize close to her.

“Thank you, Academy, for putting me with the hottest guy in the room!” she said.

It was a shoot-out all night long between The Artist, with its 10 nominations, and Hugo, with its leading 11 nods.

Hugo got off to an early and stronger start with the craft awards, winning for art direction and cinematography — the latter a mild surprise, since The Tree of Life was considered the favourite.

But it didn’t win for editing, a prize that instead went to David Fincher’s remake of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

“We weren’t expecting this!” said genuinely surprised recipients Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter, who stumbled through thanks before finally saying, “Let’s get out of here!”

Hugo also scored for sound editing, sound mixing and visual effects.

A Separation took Best Foreign-Language Film, maintaining a winning streak for Asghar Farhadi’s Iranian family drama since it premiered at the Berlin Film Festival a year ago. But the win came at the expense of Philippe Falardeau’s Quebec classroom drama Monsieur Lazhar, the strong Canadian contender in the category.

There were no surprises in the screenwriting categories, which both went to the favoured candidates: The Descendants for Best Adapted Screenplay and Midnight in Paris for Best Original Screenplay.

Reclusive writer/director Woody Allen was a no-show for his award, as usual. It was accepted on his behalf by presenter Angelina Jolie, who earned a “whoo!” from the audience for the large amount of leg she flashed beneath her glittery dress.

Other Canadians who failed to cash in their Oscar noms were Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby, whose Wild Life lost to The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore for Best Animated Short.

There was extra Canadian content in the show. Quebec’s Cirque du Soleil dance troupe performed an energetic special tribute to the movies, which kept with the evening’s retro Hollywood theme.

More on thestar.com

We value respectful and thoughtful discussion. Readers are encouraged to flag comments that fail to meet the standards outlined in our
Community Code of Conduct.
For further information, including our legal guidelines, please see our full website
Terms and Conditions.